Minimalism
Arresting and memorable: Compagnie Maguy Marin’s May B reviewed
Samuel Beckett was notoriously reluctant to let people muck about with his work, so it’s somewhat surprising to learn that…
What would Tanner say?
On the train home from the Royal Festival Hall I learned of the death of Michael Tanner, who wrote this…
'Germans thought we couldn't play': Irmin Schmidt, of Krautrock pioneers Can, interviewed
Krautrock pioneer Irmin Schmidt talks to Graeme Thomson about taking risks, playing badly and ignoring the Brits
The weird and wonderful world of hotel carpets
Sophie Haigney on the weird and wonderful world of hotel carpets
Read The Spectator article that gave birth to musical minimalism 50 years ago
The Spectator is responsible for many coinages. One of the most significant came in 1968, when an article by our…
Nils Frahm is clever with textures – but it’s the melodies which drag you in
Grade: A Here we are in that twilit zone where post-techno and post-ambient meets modern classical, a terrain that has…
Robert Mapplethorpe: bad boy with a camera
Robert Mapplethorpe made his reputation as a photographer in the period between the 1969 gay-bashing raid at the Stonewall Inn…
Is this the greatest piano work of the 21st century?
The award of a knighthood to the composer James MacMillan will have ruined last weekend for lots of unsavoury people:…
In praise of messy old kitchens
Against sterile modern kitchens
